Trisha Shetty (Editor)

ANGLE (software)

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
Developer(s)
  
Google

Platform
  
Cross-platform

License
  
BSD 3-Clause License

Written in
  
C++

Type
  
Graphics engine

Website
  
angleproject.org

ANGLE (Almost Native Graphics Layer Engine) is an open source, BSD-licensed graphics engine abstraction layer developed by Google. The API is mainly designed to bring high-performance OpenGL compatibility to Windows computers and to web browsers such as Chromium by translating OpenGL calls to Direct3D, which has much better driver support. There are two backend renderers for ANGLE: the oldest one uses Direct3D 9.0c, while the newer one uses Direct3D 11.

Contents

ANGLE is currently used by Google Chrome, Firefox, and the Qt Framework. The engine is also used by Windows 10 for the compatibility with Android apps.

History

The project started as a way for Google to bring full hardware acceleration for WebGL to Windows without relying on OpenGL graphics drivers. Google initially released the program under the BSD license.

The current production version (1.0.x) implements OpenGL ES 2.0 and EGL 1.4, claiming to pass the conformance tests for both. Work has started on the future OpenGL ES 3.0 version, for the newer Direct3D 11 backend.

The capability to use ANGLE in a Windows Store app was added in 2014. Supporting CoreWindow and SwapChainPanel in ANGLE's EGL allows applications to run on Windows 8.1, Windows Phone 8.1, and later.

Software Utilizing ANGLE

ANGLE is currently used in a number of programs and software.

  • Chromium and Google Chrome. Chrome uses ANGLE not only for WebGL, but also for its implementation of the 2D HTML5 canvas and for the graphics layer of the Google Native Client (which is OpenGL ES 2.0 compatible).
  • Firefox uses ANGLE as the default WebGL backend on Windows
  • Qt 5 uses ANGLE as the default renderer for its OpenGL ES 2.0 API wrapper and other Qt elements which use it on Windows
  • Candy Crush Saga uses ANGLE as the default renderer in its Windows Store version of the application
  • Cocos2d uses ANGLE as its rendering engine for applications published to the Windows Store
  • ANGLE for Windows Store provides Windows developers precompiled ANGLE binaries via a NuGet package
  • Stellarium provides two versions for Windows: the default version uses OpenGL, the alternative version uses ANGLE as the renderer.
  • Shovel Knight uses ANGLE as rendering engine, as seen in final credits.
  • RuneScape NXT client uses ANGLE to provide a DirectX 9 compatibility mode for older graphics cards.

    • References

    ANGLE (software) Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA


    Similar Topics